What Kommersant, RBC, Vedomosti, Interfax and Forbes Russia report — selected and summarized in English every morning, for readers who don't read Russian. Analysis-grade sourcing, no wire rehash. Data context in the Russia Terminal. Regional wires: Central Asia · Caucasus.
June data confirm a Russian economy running on household demand alone, while tax authorities tighten enforcement on investment incentives, OPEC+ hands Russia a small quota increase, and coal losses narrow on stronger export volumes.
The Economy Ministry put June GDP at 1.1% year on year after 0.3% in May, leaving first-half growth at 0.3%. Output in base industries, a proxy for GDP, fell 0.3% month on month in June on a seasonally adjusted basis after a 0.6% drop in May, according to calculations by the Telegram channel Tverdye Tsifry based on Rosstat data. Rosstat also reported that the net financial result of Russian companies in January–May was roughly flat against 2025 at 11.3 trillion rubles (about 142 billion US dollars), but the share of profitable firms fell to 65.6% from 68.9%, with the sharpest deterioration in autos, machine building, metallurgy and wood processing.
Source: Kommersant, 2 Aug 2026
Large taxpayers face additional tax assessments for combining several preferential regimes at once, RSPP head Alexander Shokhin told Vedomosti. The combinations under scrutiny include capital investment protection agreements (SZPK), the federal and regional investment deductions, and residency in special economic zones, priority development territories and regional investment projects; for some companies the assessments and penalties are comparable to a full year of revenue and profit. Finance Ministry guidance published in early July bars combining SZPK stabilisation benefits with priority development territory status, and tax consultants confirm a parallel increase in field audits.
Source: Vedomosti, 3 Aug 2026
Russia may produce 9.949 million barrels per day in September, an increase of 62,000 barrels per day, under the decision taken by the eight OPEC+ countries meeting on 2 August. The group raised total September output by 188,000 barrels per day. The next meeting is set for 6 September; Bloomberg has reported that the alliance will subsequently pause further quota increases.
Source: Kommersant, 2 Aug 2026
The Russian coal industry's aggregate loss in January–May fell 9.6% to 123.1 billion rubles (about 1.5 billion US dollars) from 136.2 billion a year earlier, Rosstat data show, against a full-year 2025 loss of 408 billion rubles. Coal exports reached 107.13 million tonnes in the first half, up 8.1% year on year, while hard coal output fell 2.8% to 162 million tonnes. Deputy Energy Minister Dmitry Islamov had forecast in March that the sector's 2026 loss could reach 576 billion rubles; analysts cited by Forbes attribute the improvement mainly to coal prices lifted by Gulf gas supply disruptions, with Newcastle 6000 averaging 138.50 dollars per tonne in June, 17% above February.
Source: Forbes.ru, 3 Aug 2026
From 31 July, the second phase of the Eurasian Economic Union's cargo tracking regime covers all road transit plus rail carriage of tax-sensitive goods such as clothing, footwear and electronics; the first phase, launched on 11 February, covered sanctioned and excisable goods. Full rail transit follows on 27 May 2027. Russia's national operator holds a fleet of 32,000 seals, and one seal costs around 40,000 rubles (roughly 500 US dollars) per shipment, a cost carriers pass into freight rates; operators report battery failures below minus 30 degrees Celsius, lost GLONASS signal triggering false tamper alerts, and border delays when booking or data-matching errors block activation.
Source: Kommersant, 3 Aug 2026